Desk tray



ntecl States Patent Office 3,524,553 Patented Aug. 18, 1970 3,524,553 DESK TRAY Albert Zitmore, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Sheller-Glove Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 690,217 Int. Cl. A47f 3/14 U.S. Cl. 211-128 3 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Desk tray construction in which the trays may be employed individually or stacked one above the other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to desk tray constructions in which the trays may be used separately, or may be stacked in such a fashion that the upper desk tray, or trays, are rigidly supported over the lower tray, or trays.

Background of the invention Stackable desk tray assemblies have been made previously in a variety of designs. However, the previous constructions have all encountered the basic problem of rigidily supporting the upper tray over the lower tray. Since the upper tray must often support several pounds of weight, it must be adequately supported to properly achieve its function. The desired spacing and support of the previous multiple desk trays was obtained primarily by rigidly securing the trays to a support element by means such as welding or threaded fasteners. Such arrangements were found to be entirely satisfactory where the desk trays were to be employed only in the multiple tray arrangement; however, if it were desired to use the desk trays individually, as well as in a stacked fashion, the arrangement was not desirable.

SUMMARY The present invention contemplates a desk tray construction in which the trays may be employed individually or may be used in a stacked fashion wherein the upper tray is supported by the lower tray by interlocking the supporting feet of the upper tray with the upper marginal edge of the side walls of the lower tray. In such arrangements, the individual trays may be readily disassembled in a matter of seconds and the upper and lower trays used individually.

Further, the desk tray construction of the invention lends itself to being molded from thermosetting or thermoplastic resin plastic materials, thus achieving an inexpensively produced article of manufacture.

The objectives and advantages of the invention may be obtained by a desk tray assembly comprising a series of trays positioned one above the other in stacked relation, each tray being an integral molded construction comprising: a bottom wall having an upper and a lower surface; a plurality of side walls extending upwardly from the edge portions of the upper surface of the bottom wall; and at least a pair of channel shaped elongate members depending below the lower surface of the bottom panel and arranged to be aligned with at least two opposing spaced apart side walls and adapted to receive the upper edge portions of the respective side walls of another similar desk tray disposed therebelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above, as well as other, objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent to one skilled in the art from reading the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof when considered in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a stacked assembly of two desk trays incorporating the features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom vief of one of the desk trays illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a stacked assembly of two desk trays, similar to FIG. 1, showing the trays arranged in an offset relationship to one another.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, each desk tray may comprise an integral molded construction which includes a bottom wall 10, two spaced apart vertically extending side walls 12 and 14, and a verticaly extending back wall 16. These walls are joined in an integrally molded construction made of any suitable plastic that is sturdy, may be kept clean easily, and will resist corrosion. Typically, pigment is added to the plastic material to impart a desired permanent color to the finished construction.

Depending from the lower edge of the outer surface of the side walls 12 and 14, there are elongate skirts 18 and 20, respectively. The skirts 18 and 20 are contoured to extend outwardly and downwardly from their respective side walls. Spaced inwardly of the skirt 18 and arranged parallel therewith is a front foot 22 and a rear foot 24. Similarly, on the other side of the tray, the skirt 20 has inwardly spaced therefrom a front foot 26 and a rear foot 28. The spacing between the skirt 18 and the associated feet 22 and 24, and the skirt 20 and the associated feet 26 and 28 is approximately equal to the thickness of the side Walls 12 and 14.

In use, it will be appreciated that the desk tray structure herein described may be advantageously employed individually wherein the lower edge portions of the skirts 18, 20 and the feet 22, 24, 26, 28 will typically rest upon the top of a desk. However, if it is desired to utilize the desk trays in a stacked fashion, the upper marginal edge of the desk tray B is readily fitted into and received by the space between the downwardly depending skirts and their associated feet of the upper desk tray A.

More specifically, the upper edge of the side wall 12 of the desk tray B is received in the `channel defined by the inside surface of the skirt 18 and the facing inside surfaces of the feet 22 and 24 of the desk tray A. Similarly, the upper edge of the side wall 14 of the desk tray B is received in the channel defined by the inside surface of the skirt 20 and the facing inside surfaces of the feet 26 and 28. In effecting the above assemblage, the side walls 12 and 14 of the lower desk tray B are flexed slightly outwardly such that the respective upper edges thereof will properly align with the receiving channels defined by the skirts and feet 0f the upper desk tray A. 'I'his slight outward flexure of the side walls effects a sufficiently adequate coupling between the stacked desk trays to insure that they not be accidently disengaged. However, when it is desired to use the desk trays individually, the upper and the lower trays may be readily manually separated.

It will be noted that the rear vertical edge of the skirts 18 and 20, and the rear vertical edge of the feet 24 and 28 are set inwardly of the rear wall 16 of each desk tray unit. Such arrangement of components aids in the proper alignment of the trays when stacked in the form illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. When it is desired to arrange the desk trays in staggered or offset relation, this may be accomplished as illustrated in FIG. 4. In the illustrated arrangement the front vertical edges of the rear feet 24 and 28 of the upper desk tray A are positioned adjacent to the outside surface of the rear wall 16 of the lower desk tray B.

One further advantage of desk trays of the invention resides in the capability of stacking different size tray units. It will be appreciated that a legal size desk tray which is approximately 14% inches in length may be readily employed to support a letter size desk tray which is approximately 11% inches in length.

While desk trays made in accordance with the invention may be made of a variety of materials, excellent results have been achieved by molding the trays of high impact polystyrene resin. The completed desk tray construction is accordingly easy to maintain, noiseless, and will not chip, dent or rust.

In accordance with the provisions of the Patent Statutes, I have explained the principle and mode of opeartion of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, it is to be understood that within the spirit and scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

What I claim is:

1. A desk tray assembly comprising a series of trays positioned one above the other in stacked relation, each tray being an integral molded construction comprising:

a bottom wall having an upper and a lower surface;

a plurality of side walls extending upwardly from the edge portions 0f the upper surface of said bottom wall; and

channel defining means depending below the lower surface of said bottom wall adapted to form a support for the desk tray and to receive the upper edge portions of the side walls of another similar desk tray disposed therebelow, said channel dening means having on the inner side thereof, a pair of spaced feet whereby said trays may be stacked in an offset relationship to one another.

2. The invention dened in claim 1 wherein said channel defining means includes spaced apart coupling elements for receiving respective portions of the upper edges of said side walls.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein said chan nel defining means includes an outwardly extending and downwardly depending skirt affixed to and substantially coextensive with respective ones of said side Walls; and inwardly spaced feet cooperating with said skirts to selectively receive the upper edge of said side walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,046,095 6/1936 Shaw 108-53 X 2,283,301 5/1942 Waddell 211--128 X 2,420,625 5/ 1947 Stalnaker 10S-53 X NILE C. BYERS, I R., Primary Examiner 

